- Sep 9, 2009
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- 17,680
hrotha said:
The latter is not blatently false. The organisers gave some riders who were not part of any crash bonus time so that they did not lose out relative to people who crashed, even though they rode to the end unimpeded and finished down.
That is pure and simple making the rules up as you go along, in order to achieve a common sense result. They ignored the rules for some riders, and enforced them for others. There were clear grounds for complaint.
- Jul 16, 2010
- 17,455
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- 0
What about Jelle Vanendert? His win at Plateau de Beille must put him in the winners list. Ok the favourites didn''t react to his attack, but it was still good to see a domestique triumph in one of the big mountain stages. 
- Feb 20, 2010
- 33,064
- 15,259
- 28,180
Biggest loser:
Cycling.
Most of the big races were terrible. I mean, how many really exciting stage races did we have in the entire year? Tirreno, Asturias, Suisse, maybe the first two weeks of the Vuelta? That's about it. We've had some good one-day races, but in general mediocrity has been the key. We've lost a number of good races - Circuito Montáñes, Subida al Naranco, the Tour de l'Aude and almost the Brixia Tour for starters - and the ones that have come in to replace them have been overpriced bad jokes like the Tour of Beijing. Many classic races have been hamstrung by chronically poor parcours - Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya being the major culprits here. Perhaps the only victory for the fans has been the collapse of HTC-High Road, but other teams have been queuing up to replace them in the "most boring team in history" stakes. I'd rather watch the US Postal train for six hours.
The loss of so many characters from the sport in tragic ways has been hard to swallow as well, especially those in such out-of-the-blue (Tondó) or, in public, shockingly sudden and violent (Weylandt) ways. While from an entertainment perspective we the fans were the big losers of 2011, it's crass and ridiculous to not include those riders, staff, officials, family and friends of those riders that suffered crippling injuries or worse for the sake of sport and entertainment amongst those who've had a terrible time with the sport this year.
Cycling.
Most of the big races were terrible. I mean, how many really exciting stage races did we have in the entire year? Tirreno, Asturias, Suisse, maybe the first two weeks of the Vuelta? That's about it. We've had some good one-day races, but in general mediocrity has been the key. We've lost a number of good races - Circuito Montáñes, Subida al Naranco, the Tour de l'Aude and almost the Brixia Tour for starters - and the ones that have come in to replace them have been overpriced bad jokes like the Tour of Beijing. Many classic races have been hamstrung by chronically poor parcours - Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya being the major culprits here. Perhaps the only victory for the fans has been the collapse of HTC-High Road, but other teams have been queuing up to replace them in the "most boring team in history" stakes. I'd rather watch the US Postal train for six hours.
The loss of so many characters from the sport in tragic ways has been hard to swallow as well, especially those in such out-of-the-blue (Tondó) or, in public, shockingly sudden and violent (Weylandt) ways. While from an entertainment perspective we the fans were the big losers of 2011, it's crass and ridiculous to not include those riders, staff, officials, family and friends of those riders that suffered crippling injuries or worse for the sake of sport and entertainment amongst those who've had a terrible time with the sport this year.
- Aug 1, 2011
- 234
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Levi is the best American, right?
2nd TOC,
1st Tour of Suisse
1st Tour of Utah
1st US Pro Cycling
2nd TOC,
1st Tour of Suisse
1st Tour of Utah
1st US Pro Cycling
- May 13, 2009
- 3,093
- 3
- 0
Greipel won a TdF stage against Cav, Farrar won his first TdF stage.
Two winners (maybe minor, but still winners).
Two winners (maybe minor, but still winners).
- Jun 14, 2010
- 34,930
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- 22,580
rhubroma said:
There is more to life than victory and defeat. Especially if youve tasted victory as many times as Contador.
The guy was booed at the presentation, and by the end getting huge support.
Its true that sometimes in loss, one can gain more than 1 does in victory.
Contadors loss was a beautiful one. He faced a lot of extra obstacles that were ultimately insurmountable and he went out fighting in a way that has usually been limited to heroic martyrdom scenes in Hollywood movies (eg Butch Cassidy and Sundance kid).
And winning a Giro now and again does someone no harm.
Your type might think that Armstrong was the greatest because the Tour means everything and he won it slightly more than the others, but ill take my Mercx, Hinault, Coppi, Indurain and now Contador, winning both multiple times, any day of the week thank you very much,
- Sep 1, 2011
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- 0
- Mar 10, 2009
- 6,158
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- 0
Winner: Gilbert, he won pretty much any race that suited him and even blew a few doors off (like cough, cough, the Shlecks at LBL). But moving the BMC? That was a small loss I think, he'll be in Garmin 2011 purgatory with Evans and Thor.
Loser: Thor, was in the 2011 Garmin purgatory and moved to the BMC equivalent for 2012. Not sure what he was thinking.
Loser: Leopard Team, from a jovial group of friends who seemed to care less if they won or loss just as long as they were having a good time, to the trenches with Joe-Han.
Winner: Rolland, yes just one stage but showed to be the real diamond on Europcar.
Loser: Voekler, sure he wore the yellow jersey and fought hard, a minor win due to teammate Rolland showing he's the real contender not Voekler. Next year, the team DS might highlight both of them but come crunch time, its all for Rolland, if he's smart (the DS).
Loser: Schlecks, getting shown up in the classic 2 vs 1 at LBL, there is no coming back from that weak tactical snafu. 2nd at Tour, well that's a normal not a gain for Andy so not much of a win or gain. Frank was just in the shadows the whole time, not a win if you can't come out of your little brother's shadow even at a Classic.
Winner: Froome, showed he's got it a the Vuelta.
Winner: (ever so slightly) Some stated it was a breakout but Cobo had shown signs of greatness before, being on the lowly Geox team just hid him more or left him out in the cold (not being at the big races), till this year.
Winner: Cavendish, he won and won then took worlds. Win. Contract-wise its still up in the air.
Losers: Team HTC, no new sponsors, sad really.
Winner: GreenEDGE, they're not even racing this year and they already have all the headlines! Win.
Losers: Garmin, what a crappy team tactics this year, three great riders in most of the Classics and only one win... no assigned leader instead a multi-headed chaotic non-communicating team (even with radios). Yea they got Roubaix but it was far from who was expected, instead of the win we talked about Fabian and Thor being held back by the Garmin tactics.
Winner: Team Sky, finally out of their funk and got some quality wins in this year, all good.
Losers: Katusha, did we even remember them doing anything in a race other than Rodriquez? OK Moreno. Then all the Pozatto drama, and no race results or action.
Winner: Contador for being able to continue to race even though he had his case hanging over him the whole year (the whole freaking year!). Well I hope its closed one way or another soon. Yea, took the Giro, shaked and baked some at the Tour to show he at least wanted to give us a show. The Schlecks turned him into an underdog making a lot of people forget he tested positive last year.
What else ... ?
Almost forgot:
Losers: UCI for not even being able to hide their shenanigans anymore, their transparency is showing us how crooked they really are.
Loser: Thor, was in the 2011 Garmin purgatory and moved to the BMC equivalent for 2012. Not sure what he was thinking.
Loser: Leopard Team, from a jovial group of friends who seemed to care less if they won or loss just as long as they were having a good time, to the trenches with Joe-Han.
Winner: Rolland, yes just one stage but showed to be the real diamond on Europcar.
Loser: Voekler, sure he wore the yellow jersey and fought hard, a minor win due to teammate Rolland showing he's the real contender not Voekler. Next year, the team DS might highlight both of them but come crunch time, its all for Rolland, if he's smart (the DS).
Loser: Schlecks, getting shown up in the classic 2 vs 1 at LBL, there is no coming back from that weak tactical snafu. 2nd at Tour, well that's a normal not a gain for Andy so not much of a win or gain. Frank was just in the shadows the whole time, not a win if you can't come out of your little brother's shadow even at a Classic.
Winner: Froome, showed he's got it a the Vuelta.
Winner: (ever so slightly) Some stated it was a breakout but Cobo had shown signs of greatness before, being on the lowly Geox team just hid him more or left him out in the cold (not being at the big races), till this year.
Winner: Cavendish, he won and won then took worlds. Win. Contract-wise its still up in the air.
Losers: Team HTC, no new sponsors, sad really.
Winner: GreenEDGE, they're not even racing this year and they already have all the headlines! Win.
Losers: Garmin, what a crappy team tactics this year, three great riders in most of the Classics and only one win... no assigned leader instead a multi-headed chaotic non-communicating team (even with radios). Yea they got Roubaix but it was far from who was expected, instead of the win we talked about Fabian and Thor being held back by the Garmin tactics.
Winner: Team Sky, finally out of their funk and got some quality wins in this year, all good.
Losers: Katusha, did we even remember them doing anything in a race other than Rodriquez? OK Moreno. Then all the Pozatto drama, and no race results or action.
Winner: Contador for being able to continue to race even though he had his case hanging over him the whole year (the whole freaking year!). Well I hope its closed one way or another soon. Yea, took the Giro, shaked and baked some at the Tour to show he at least wanted to give us a show. The Schlecks turned him into an underdog making a lot of people forget he tested positive last year.
What else ... ?
Almost forgot:
Losers: UCI for not even being able to hide their shenanigans anymore, their transparency is showing us how crooked they really are.
- Jun 22, 2009
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jordan5000 said:
lol that is pretty short minded considering AC is probably only now going to hit his prime, whereas LA is no longer in the peloton.
jordan5000 said:
considering AC is still young and has many years ahead of him i would take 6 GTs any day of the week (assuming he doesnt get a 2 year ban). Not only that but AC doesnt just target the tour each year. He has won 2 GT in the 1 year, which is alot better than winning 2 tours IMO. He has won many stage races, 2 a year since 2007 (3 in 2010). LA only won 3 stage races in 7 years.
- Aug 31, 2011
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Christian said:I thought the Tour was pretty good, with all distinctive jerseys being decided on the last or second to last stage ... that's all you can hope for
It's what Prudhomme hopes for (unfortunately).
jordan5000 said:
Getting a career GT grand slam is far more prestigious imho. And even if CAS goes against him, one would assume that he is going to win far more GT's in the future.
Winners; Contador - utterly dominant at the Giro. And really enjoyed watching him at the Tour, not going down without a fight.
Sky - a very impressive second season. Froome and Wiggins at the Vuelta, the emergence of G as a real contender for the Classics in years to come, plus a couple of TdF stage wins as well.
Cav - Green Jersey and WC, can't argue with that.
Thor - yes Roubaix was disappointing, but his performance in the Tour was fantastic.
Gilbert - not his biggest fan, but you can't really argue with the season that he's had.
Losers; As has been said already, losing Weylandt in such shocking circumstances at the Giro, and the Tondo so soon afterwards was terrible, plus Soler's injury (any recent news on how he is getting on?), and the sport suffered as a result.
Zomegan - paid the price for such a demanding parcours. However, from what we've seen so far, the Giro will remain crazy hard.
Frandy/Leopard - only 40km of TT and they still screwed it up?
- Apr 1, 2009
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Sophistic said:
Contador wins one of the 3 GT there are and you class him as a loser? Wow
that seems harsh to say the least.
- Feb 25, 2010
- 3,854
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- Mar 13, 2009
- 29,413
- 3,482
- 28,180
Winners: Evans, Contador, Gilbert, Cavendish most obviously, small mention to guys like Froome, Rolland, and other suprises.
Losers: Schlecks, Cancellara, so basically just Leopard Trek... + all injured riders obviously
Losers: Schlecks, Cancellara, so basically just Leopard Trek... + all injured riders obviously
- Jul 16, 2010
- 17,455
- 5
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